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Shanxi Naval Treaty
The Treaty of Expansion and Limitations of Fleet Armaments, more commonly known as the Shanxi Naval Treaty, is an interstellar treaty signed between the members of the Citadel Interstellar League, with the purpose of extending and revising the Treaty of Farixen to reach the common goals of providing better mutual military defense and higher preparedness between their respective fleets, and to place a new policy on warship construction. The Treaty agreements between the Citadel with the Federation and the Hegemony were thoroughly discussed and exchanged on 12 July, 2662 at the Neo Taipei, Shanxi. By the 15th of July of the same year, the conference had finally reached their consensus upon an approval for equilibrium policies between fleet expansion and warship construction limitations. Terms and Conditions The terms of the Treaty is, in concept, an expansion of the previous Farixen Treaty of the Citadel Council which was an effort to prevent another interstellar conflict like the Krogan Rebellion from ever happen again, and to curb dangerous military spending. Under the terms and conditions of the Shanxi Treaty, additional articles were added. This Treaty reaffirmed that any merchant with armaments larger than a heavy cruiser will be treated as a violation of the civilian armaments treaty that had been drafted earlier, as such, they are to be classified as a warship and effectively lose their immunity as a civilian merchant ship in wartime. Like the previous treaty of Farixen, the Turian Hierarchy, Asari Republics, Salarian Union, and associate Citadel species were pre-defined signatories. Later the Terran Federation, Petolemaic Hegemony, and the Systems Alliance also signed the Treaty, albeit on a "partially recognized stance". Each of these three nations are stated to have a potentially larger fleet of Dreadnought sized vessels than the rest of the Council combined, but the signing of the treaty means they verified that their warship construction programs are mainly for defensive and peackeeping purposes only. As a goodwill gesture, these nations fulfill their agreements by dismantling their obsolete warships in accordance with the new Treaty. Another new policy enacted in the Shanxi Naval Treaty is the so-called "Dreadnought Vacation", where each nation can only build a new Dreadnought model if their most modern dreadnoughts have reached the 15 year service expiry, although exceptions are made for the Council members, especially for peacekeeping forces like the Terran Space Fleet and the Turian Peacekeeping Fleet. This means that for most nations when signing, no modern top of the line replacement ships can begin construction until 2677 at the earliest, forcing them to compromise what they want in their vessels now. This is not a problem for the three new nations as their dreadnought procurement schedule is usually very long before new designs are put to keel, but yield greater effects in terms of numbers and quality compared to other non-Council representatives. The Shanxi Naval Conference also sought to rectify the dreadnought construction ratio of the previous Farixen Treaty, which most people cried out as a "bias towards the Turians and the Council". The new Treaty gave a more balanced ratio of 10:10:8 respectively. For every ten ships the Turians or the Terrans built for peacekeeping purposes, the Council species are allowed to build in the same ratio. Embassy races are alloted with 2 less ships. This is a big change from the original Treaty of Farixen, which in the Federal perspective, "Did nothing but minimize the combat effectiveness and capabilities of the Citadel military machine, leaving them completely unprepared for interstellar threats. After all, one does not rely on the hope that trouble doesn't come knocking". It should be noted that although the treaty allowed a more balanced and plentiful construction ratio, economists noted that none of the representatives could even theoretically reach this level of production with the exception of the re-inaugurated Quarian Conclave, the Vol Protectorate, and the Batarian Hegemony. Another matter which was discussed at the Shanxi Naval Treaty conference is the use of WMDs, most specifically planet-cracking weapons and warp-ordnance, while the Federation, the Hegemony and the Alliance did not ratify the terms of the Treaty, they promised to abide by the Citadel Conventions and accept banning the use of WMDs on habitable planets, although exceptions can be made. Formation of the Union of Four Peoples The Shanxi Naval Conference is also a point of discussion for a new military alliance through the three non-Farixen Signatories, which would be later joined by the Quarian Protectorate to create the Union of Four Peoples. After the devastation of the Federation in the Third Bug War, is was evident that the Terran Federation could no longer stand on its own in the galactic stage. With the signatories of the Terran Federation, Free Planets Alliance, the Petolemaic representatives, as well as delegates from the Quarian Migrant Fleet, the political union ensured that each signatory members promised military cooperation and mutual strategic support for one another should one of the members of the union be attacked in an interstellar conflict. The Petolemaics assured that while they will help the Quarian Protectorate, the Terran Federation, and the FPA in an event of a conflict against the Arachnids, they would remained neutral to Citadel political affairs as their nations were still in its post war reformation process after the liberation of the Hegemony capital of Gehenna. As such, when the Terran Federation, the FPA, and the Quarian Protectorate declared war on the Batarians, the Petolemaic Hegemony officially proclaimed its neutrality during the entire conflict. The political union was reaffirmed by the Petolemaic leader, Jensodo Lew Gen'Tak, who later went on to reform the Hegemony and consolidated the remaining Petolemaic nations into a single unified entity under his tribe's rule once more. His appreciation towards the Federation for their efforts in liberating the Hegemony core systems were also a driving factor for the union with the Terrans. Following the reformation of the Hegemony and their inauguration to the Citadel sphere of influence, both the Terran Federation and the Petolemaic Hegemony have assured their solidarity towards one another as this pact officially marked the end of the century-long strife of state endorsed specism and conflict between the two interstellar entities and have long-lasting effects on the galactic community as a whole. Trivia * As the Farixen Treaty is the ME equivalent of Washington Naval Treaty, the Shanxi Naval Treaty served as the story equivalent of the follow-up London Naval Treaty of 1930. However, this Treaty also act as the Entente Cordiale equivalents for the Terran Federation and the Petolemaic Hegemony, by setting aside the strife and controversial grievances of both side and eventually lead to a much more significant improved relations between the two former enemies. Category:Documents Category:Terran Federation:Contact Category:Background